Desiree Warren is a Marketing Associate for Beam Suntory in the USA ⁣.

She started her journey with Beam Suntory in the Training Tomorrow’s Talent (T3) program, which is a three-year sales and marketing rotational program that aims to train the next generation of leaders in the spirits industry.

Skills to navigate the industry 

"I’m currently in my third year and the program has equipped me with the brand knowledge and skills to be able to navigate this industry," shares Desiree.

"I’ve had so many impactful and rewarding experiences at Beam Suntory, like supporting minority owned businesses and helping to highlight local businesses without a strong Beam Suntory Portfolio presence."

Building authentic relationships with mentors 

Desiree doesn't see a lot of Gen Z or Black women on the sales side of the spirits industry. Despite this, she says that she has used this aspect to her advantage to build authentic relationships with mentors and with her on- and off-premise accounts.

"I remember when I first started working in the sales field, people would mistake me for being an intern, or would tell me that women don’t drink bourbon. I would use these moments as an opportunity to educate them on our brands and their heritage, proving them wrong by showing them the demographics of our consumers," Desiree says. 

"As someone who’s new in their career journey and a first-generation college student, I sometimes put a lot of pressure on myself to succeed in my career. But I like to remind myself that if I am moving with intention, then I am exactly where I am meant to be. I have done the work to make impactful connections within the spirits industry and my accomplishments thus far speaks to that."

Developing a healthy work-life balance 

Through the resources available to Desiree at Beam Suntory, has been able to build an incredible network and has gained a mentor in Beam Suntory colleague and woman of color, Kanata Herring, a Senior Manager for Innovation at the company. Kanata has given Desiree a great deal of constructive advice on how to develop a healthy work-life balance and navigate a career. "It’s important to have another mentor who looks like myself," comments Desiree.

"I think it’s important for the spirits industry to continue to hire employees from a range of backgrounds, including younger generations because differences generate new ideas about how we engage consumers from a marketing perspective. We’re already seeing the way Generation Z is impacting the industry, from e-commerce, to social media and the influence we have on buying trends. It’s important for businesses to bring in a wide variety of voices, so they can have a seat at the table.” 

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